I'll Tell You What You Already Know
by ohtheconfession
Summary: Booth/Brennan. I wrote this after seeing a certain promo picture for 6x22 but I hadn't watched the 6x22 promo at the time so it's all speculation. Spoilers for season six, so you'll have to click to know what this is about !


**Author's note**: _Based on a promotional picture for 6x22, so obviously there will be spoilers. Hope you'll enjoy :) - _Annie

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><p><strong>I'll Tell You What You Already Know<strong>

"Here's something you can sleep in, it should fit …"

Booth handed her over a pair of his sweatpants and a faded t-shirt. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, as if she were helpless.

"Thank you. I'm sure it'll fit."

She didn't raise her eyes to meet his but she could feel his concerned stare fixed upon her and it unnerved her even more. She took a deep breath and spoke again.

"I'm going to change."

She didn't wait for his answer, and he didn't follow her – not that she'd expect him to, of course. She realized as soon as she left the room that as much as she disliked seeing him worry about her, it made her feel a lot safer. He seemed to be the only thing keeping her safe these days. She placed the pillow and clothes on his bed – which he still insisted on giving her, claiming that he would use Parker's bed even though she knew full well he would fall asleep on the couch. She wondered for a second if it would be wrong to ask him to share his bed.

Booth didn't want her too far away from him. He knew she didn't like him acting all men-in-black to protect her, but nothing she could say would ever make him take a step back. He removed his suit, randomly tossing the clothes on Parker's bed and put on a t-shirt and a pair of FBI issued sweatpants. When he stepped into the living room, Brennan was already there. She looked unusually small in his clothes, and all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and hold her close to him.

Her face looked tired, sad, and if he dared say, slightly scared; but mostly tired.

"Go to bed, Bones. I'll be out here if you need me, 'kay?"

She nodded and walked back into his room.

After turning the lights off, she got under his covers and the bed smelled so much like him it brought tears to her eyes. She had told him a few months ago that she had made a mistake and didn't want to live with regrets. And yet every time it seemed she had a chance to make things right, she kept quiet and let it go. She lay on her side, listening to the barely audible sound of Booth's TV in the living room. His presence was reassuring, she thought again, and she wanted nothing more than to have him close to her. She wanted him to hold her, as a matter of fact, and she wanted to be fifteen years old again. She wondered what it would have been like if the two of them had met at that age. She knew he had been a popular kid who probably would have taken absolutely no interest in her. She was lucky to have him now, she thought, before dozing off.

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><p>The red digits on the clock showed 2.37 am. He'd checked on Bones just after midnight and had been lying sleeplessly on the couch since then. He had watched every documentary that was on late in the evening and now knew probably everything there was to know about the French Revolution and the Japanese art of Aikido. But still, sleep could not find him.<p>

The hardwood floor creaked softly under hesitant footsteps, which he correctly assumed to be Brennan's. She looked like she had been getting as much sleep as he had.

"I can't sleep," she simply stated.

"Me either." He nodded in understanding. "Wanna watch some TV?"

She shook her head. "Will you come to bed with me?"

His eyes searched hers through the darkness of the apartment, and he flashed back to this day years ago, when he had told her that because of their work, there was this line between them and they couldn't cross it. It kept them safer, he'd argued with himself. He knew what could happen if the two of them got involved; it could be dangerous. But it seemed danger had found them anyway, even if they hadn't crossed that damn line. So what was the point?

He stood, tossed the remote control on the couch and walked her back into his room. She followed him hesitantly at first, but when he got under the covers, she went after him, and he instantly wrapped his arm around her, hand settling once again at the small of her back.

"You know I love you, Bones, right?"

She stilled, and actually thought about it for a little while. She knew he cared about her, she knew he had loved her in the past but she wasn't certain his feelings had stayed the same. But she thought of her own feelings, and she knew that no matter what happened between them, they were never going to change.

"I know," she whispered, and the memory of him telling her that he _knew_ took her breath away. She scooted closer to him on the bed and he held her tighter, and at that moment she lost track of her thoughts. It was as if everything had faded away to leave just the two of them in darkness and silence, and utter peace. His lips found hers and he pressed a gentle kiss against her mouth, once, twice, and then again on the corner of her lips. Her hand came to rest around his neck, and she tucked her head against his chest.

"I love you," she mumbled against him, eyes closed in a silly effort to make saying the words out loud seem easier. But once they escaped her mouth, she realized there was nothing simpler to say, for the truth is always easily spoken.

He kissed her temple and whispered words of love again, and this time for both of them, sleep was found almost instantly.


End file.
